I will hope, hope, HOPE he has learned. I don’t know what “terminal” means here but I hope it’s not worse than jail time. I’m not being nosy so please don’t think you need to tell me. I just feel for you because no matter what, our children are our hearts. I’ll keep wishing for brighter days for you all. Take care—really.
Dear Hope for the Best: no worries at all. I appreciate your kind words and don't think you are being nosy. Terminal = serve the whole sentence that is given (720 months). This will allow him to have no probation, etc. when he gets out. It is a good choice for him - since as I said, I am not sure he has learned that actions have consequences. He is my youngest child...and I have probably babied him more than my other two children (they say I have/do). But there is just something about him being the youngest - I still see him as a child...and want to protect, hand-hold, etc. him. As you say, our children are our hearts. I accept and love him for who he is - trouble, quirks, jail, court and all. Thank you again for your comments. They mean a lot to me. xo Not my opinion - truth.
Dear DLHarris2712,
I am glad you don’t feel I was being nosy and that my words are helpful to you. I am very glad to learn what terminal meant in this context because I just was afraid it was something even worse—although that made no sense. I didn’t know that “terminal” was an option but it seems to me like a choice that would take maturity and courage to take. Essentially your son is forgoing immediate rewards like possible parole for longer-term gain, which seems very mature to me! A friend who was a police chief for years said he felt impulsivity was a major factor in some cases, especially with young men. Psychologist friends have said much the same.
While I am in no way an expert and I’m not in the psychology field, your son and how you describe him make me think of human development theories in young adults. While there are various theories of human development, Chickering and Reisser’s theory is foundational and related to individuals of college age and older (doesn’t mean at all that it only happens in those who attend college or that the development process ends after four years—; that’s what they studied). That theory says that adult development generally occurs in nonlinear ways, with both direction and momentum, and is not always moving steadily forward; development can occur in one area like in development of competence and not in the ability to manage one’s emotions or the ability to have interdependent relationships, and then we may see surges in those areas at different times.
Link:
https://www.westmont.edu/_student_life/documents/ChickeringHandoutFINAL.pdf
While I am not at all saying your son has ADHD or attention issues (I’m not any kind of medical professional), your remark about impulsivity in his speech made me think about related information that might give you more hope for the future with your son. Males reportedly do develop more slowly overall in the ability to self regulate (many say 25) and if someone—regardless of gender—has ADHD or related attentional issues, it takes even longer. As below in the link, in peer-reviewed research, executive functioning may not catch up until a person is in his or her 30’s.
Link:
http://childhood-developmental-diso...opmental-delays-in-executive-function-for.pdf
I also think that people just tend to say that about a youngest child being babied more although I haven’t researched it so MOO. Of course you feel that way about your son; that’s what unconditional love is about in my view. However old my kids are and whatever they do (which is not the same as saying I’d agree with bad behavior, and they know that well, just as your son clearly knows about you), they always will be my babies and my heart. That doesn’t mean I kept them from consequences; not at all. I just always say to them that what matters most is that we learn from what we do and we work to make progress and move forward—and not to repeat whatever it was. Some lessons are so much harder than others to learn and some take more time. I certainly am a major work in progress to say the least and am quite slow at learning some lessons I need to learn so sometimes I’m a good example maybe but often I’m more of a horrible warning about what not to do!
It seems funny to say this on this site but at some time in my life, years ago, I saw this clip on TV about Teddy Bundy’s adoptive mother. (Forgive me if I have any details wrong as this was long ago and I don’t want to read about it.) As I recall, she was elderly and crying, and apparently said to the families that she felt so awful about what he’d done to all those victims and their families but she couldn’t help but still love Ted because he was her child. And, again, as I recall this, the families felt sorry for her, too, and understood how she could feel both. I of course hope and pray my kids never do such a thing but I’ve also thought about that in terms of unconditional love—love no matter what, which again isn’t the same as excusing bad behavior and worse in my opinion. This is all MOO. I hope this too was helpful to you, and I wish you, your son, and family better, happier days ahead. I feel very hopeful things will improve!
P.S. My apologies if I’ve bored or offended anyone with all this.